Field
This disclosure is generally related to the field of quantum communication. More specifically, this disclosure is related to a system and method for quantum key distribution.
Related Art
The development of quantum mechanics has resulted in applications in many aspects of life. Quantum mechanics can be applied to cryptography, including quantum key distribution protocols like Bennett Brassard (BB84), Differential Phase-Shift (DPS), Coherent One-Way (COW), and SARG (derived from BB84). A quantum key distribution system typically includes three components: 1) a quantum engine for quantum-related functions, including generating keys and transmitted the generated keys to corresponding key management modules; 2) a key management module for managing keys received from the quantum engine, including storing a pool of keys; 3) and an application which requests keys from the key management module. The key pool managed by the key management module is a shared resource. As a result, when multiple applications concurrently request keys from the key management module, the key management module can only process the requests in serial. The key management module can only respond to one request at a time, and thus can only obtain one key at a time from the shared key pool.
Because the single shared key pool can become a bottleneck, the typical quantum key distribution system can result in congestion. As the number of requests increases, so does the average waiting time for an application to obtain a response to its request. This may result in a marked decrease in the quality of service of the quantum key distribution system.